Wes Wilson's Representation of Women in Countercultural Design
Wes Wilson designed some of the most well-known posters of the psychedelic era. Many designs during and before this time, specifically advertisements, featured women in highly sexualized and submissive roles. Wilson rejected this representation of women, as well as many other artistic practices of corporate modernism. Through the use of bold, distorted typography, surreal imagery, and vibrant colors, Wilson admired the female form for its beauty rather than objectification. In these posters above, he uses women subjects as a means of adding personality to his designs, which changes the corporate modernist practice of eroticizing women into appreciating women for the qualities and nuances they contribute.
Wes Wilson 1960s Posters
